Incomputing anduser interface engineering, aselection is a list of items on whichuser operations will take place. The user typically adds items to the list manually, although thecomputer may create a selection automatically.
Selections are enacted through combinations of key presses on akeyboard, with a precisionpointing device (mouse ortouchpad andcursor,stylus), or by hand on atouchscreen device. The simultaneous selection of a group of items (either a subset of elements in a list, or discontinuous regions in a text) is called amultiple selection.
Context menus will usually include actions related to the objects included in the current selection – the selection provides the "context" for the menu.
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg) | This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding missing information.(November 2020) |
A selection method to facilitate the selection of large amounts of text or items in a long list such as files and folders infile managers isrange selection, sparing the user from clicking or tapping each item individually.
On desktop file managers such as theWindows Explorer andNemo file manager, it can be used by clicking on the first item to be selected, then holding the⇧shift key while clicking on the last item to be selected. In mobile file managers, it is implemented since early versions ofES File Explorer, where only two listed items (file or directory) need to be highlighted and a button pressed to select all items in-between.
Ideally, the two list items are navigated to with a draggablescroll bar, since it can move through long lists faster.
The user taps or clicks on the first item, drags upward or downward, and waits for the list to scroll to the last desired item, at which the user releases the pointer or finger. The same applies to text.[1]
Simultaneous editing is a technique inEnd-user development research to edit all items in a multiple selection. It allows the user to manipulate all the selected items at once throughdirect manipulation. The technique also appears indata wrangling tools, allowing the user to make the same changes to several records of the same kind in a table.
The termsimultaneous editing is also used to describecollaborative editing incollaborative real-time editors.
Acolumn selection is atext selection feature found intext editors which allows the user to select characters in a grid-like fashion, selecting characters in several lines at the same columns. This is usually initiated by pressing the alt key (instead of the shift key, which creates a continuous selection) to select text whendragging. Some applications also enable text to be typed in multiple lines at once using this method as a limited form ofsimultaneous editing.[2]
The feature is known by different names in different applications:
TheLapis text editor,[9][10] Mozilla'sFirefox developer tools,[11] and themulti edit[12] plugin forgedit are examples of the simultaneous editing technique that work on discontinuous regions through direct manipulation. The Lapis editor can also create an automatic multiple selection based on an example item.
 | This computing article is astub. You can help Wikipedia byadding missing information. |